


By Any Other Name

by Coeurire



Category: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Cartoon)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Trans Benson, Trans Kipo, also IMO Wolf is also trans, dave is only.....kind of there sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22962535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coeurire/pseuds/Coeurire
Summary: Wolf has never had a name before. After that night of going by "Jolene," she realizes she really wants one. Fortunately, her friends are there to help.
Relationships: Kipo & friends, Kipo Oak & Wolf, Wolf & Benson
Comments: 12
Kudos: 241





	By Any Other Name

“I don’t hate Jolene.” 

Kipo blinked, and turned to look at Wolf. They were hiking along a narrow and extremely jagged mountain path, and Kipo could practically feel the rocks through her shoes. Benson and Dave were walking ahead, listening to music on a brand-new--er, 200-year-old--pair of earpods. Kipo had never seen Benson as excited as he’d been when he’d found them in the dump. 

But Kipo and Wolf had been walking in relative silence--well, Kipo had been chatting to Wolf until she said that she “needed to concentrate” and was “this close to throwing Kipo off the ridge.” She could do it too, she warned. She could toss Kipo around like a Frisbee. Kipo had smiled. Her new sister was totally warming up to her! 

At any rate, though, now Wolf’s statement about Jolene came completely out of nowhere. Kipo cocked her head. “Huh?”  
“I said, I don’t hate Jolene,” Wolf repeated. “As a name. I like the _Jo_ part. But I don’t think it’s right.” 

A wave of excitement began to swell in Kipo’s chest. “Do you...want a name?????” 

“Yes.” Wolf’s voice was terse. “I’ve been trying to think of wh--” 

Kipo squealed so loudly that it echoed across the canyon through which they were walking, and almost made her lose her own footing. “Oh, my, god, yes! I told you you needed a name! What else were you thinking, other than Jolene? I could totally see you as a Vanessa, or a Rachel, or--” 

Wolf clamped her hand over Kipo’s mouth. 

“Everything okay back there?” asked Benson, who had heard the squealing.   
“Not really,” replied Wolf through gritted teeth. “The burrow girl just rang the dinner bell.” 

Benson laughed. “Relax, it’ll be fine. There’s not even anything up here to--” 

He was cut off by the Mega Eagle that swooped down to grab him. 

Kipo felt like she was about to cry, but Wolf just sighed. “Relax. Mega Eagles look tough, but they’re basically big chickens, only even dumber. Come on. I think its nest is...that way.” 

* * *

“Man, it is gonna take me forever to get all these sticks out of my hair,” complained Benson good-naturedly as they walked away from that misadventure. 

Dave made a face. “You think you got problems? I’ve got feathers under my exoskeleton.”   
As they were arguing, Kipo turned to Wolf. “Sorry about...all that,” she said. 

Wolf glared. “It’s fine.” 

“But back to names!” Kipo beamed. “I totally forgot to ask if you had any favorites yet. What’s your top ten? No--top twenty!” 

“I really mostly just ruled out Jolene,” said Wolf. “I hadn’t really thought of any other ones yet.”   
“Well…” Kipo thought for a second. “You said you liked the Jo part of Jolene, right? What about Joanna?” 

“Ehh.” 

“Jocelyn?” 

“Nah.” 

“Josette.”   
“Is that even a name?” 

Kipo thought for a second, then brightened. “Yeah, definitely! Do you remember that classical song? ‘Josette, I simply don’t know what to say--’” 

“It’s ‘Cosette,’” Benson called back, then his face reddened slightly. “I mean--I don’t listen to showtunes.” 

“Hey, man, we’re both into old world music,” said Dave. “We all already know you’re a huge dork.”

“Hey!”

“Okay, so Josette is out,” said Kipo, as the other two got into another playful argument. “What exactly do you like about Jo, then?” 

Wolf thought for a moment. “I like that it’s short,” she said. “Doesn’t waste time. I couldn’t be  _ just _ Jo, it sounds too much like a boy’s name. But what I really don’t hate about Jolene is--” She looked down, motioned for Kipo to come closer, and lowered her voice. “It’s pretty.” She glared up at Kipo and hissed, “DON’T tell Benson and Dave I said that.”

“It’s okay to like pretty things!” Kipo whispered back. 

“When people think you’ve gone soft out here, bad things happen.” 

“I’m not sure about that.” 

“What are we whispering about?” whispered Benson. 

They both jumped. “Wolf wants to pick a new--” blurted Kipo before she realized that might be something Wolf wanted to keep private. She remembered choosing her own name had been a difficult and deeply personal process. Although the difficulty was definitely at least  _ partly _ because her dad had relentlessly quizzed her on obscure words and female sci-fi authors the whole time. When he was supportive, he was  _ supportive, _ to the point that it got completely exhausting and Kipo would wake up in the middle of the night yelling “Octavia” and “Ursula.”

So she wasn’t sure if Wolf would be okay with her talking about this. “--pair of shoes!” she finished. “Yeah. She’s getting tired of the barefoot look.  _ Very  _ last season.” 

Wolf gave her a blank look. “Why would I want shoes?” she asked. “I’m just trying to pick a name.”

Benson brightened. “Hey, cool!” he said. “You taking suggestions?” 

“Sure. Got anything?”

“How about Olivia?” he offered. “There’s this really cool Old Earth vocalist named Olivia. My mom used to sing some of her music to me when I was little.” 

Kipo and Wolf absorbed the impact of Benson offering some information about his past, but neither could think of anything to say about it. “I’ll think about it,” said Wolf. “Got anything else?”

“Hmmm…” He considered. “Well...I know some people pick names based on their meanings. Is there any special word or phrase that’s important to you? Maybe one of us”--everyone looked at Kipo--“knows a name corresponding to that meaning!”

“Benson, that’s brilliant!” exclaimed Kipo. “Go on, Wolf. What are some words that are important to you?” 

“Uhh...uhhhhhhh…” Wolf shifted her feet. “Not being eaten? Being buff?” 

“The French word for buff is  _ chamois, _ ” Kipo added helpfully. 

Wolf made a face. “I’m not naming myself Sham-Wow.” 

“Well, what else?” asked Benson. 

Everyone walked in silence for a minute. 

“C’mon, Wolf, there has to be  _ something _ else that matters to you,” said Kipo.

Wolf shrugged. “Not really. And I’m done talking about this. I never should have brought it up anyway.” The frustration in her voice was audible, but Kipo didn’t pick it up, and Benson knew better than to argue. The conversation moved on to other things, and they ended up making camp for the night without touching on Wolf’s lack of a name again. 

“You know,” Benson said gently as they were gathering kindling, “your name doesn’t  _ have  _ to be that big a deal.”

“It’s not,” said Wolf. “It’s no deal at all. I’ll just be stupid Wolf forever. I don’t care.” 

“I know, I know.” Benson held up his hands, causing all the kindling to fall out of them. “Whoops! But I just mean, like, you don’t have to find the perfect one immediately. Before I was Benson, I was Tyler. Before that, Evan. Before  _ that, _ uh, Oak.” He laughed. “From an Old Earth video game. Man, I used to be really into those.” 

Wolf was silent for a long moment. 

“Hey, you know what I think would be a good name for you?” Benson asked. 

“What?” 

“Hope.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” 

“No, no, listen,” said Benson. “It’s not just, like, you’ve been through a lot but you’re still hopeful, you inspire hope in your friends, yada yada yada. That’s not the Wol--uh, the you I know.” He smiled. “It’s because whenever you get into a fight the other person better _hope_ they get out of it alive!”   
A slow smile crept across Wolf’s face. “That is true,” she said. “I’ll think about it.” 

“You’re welcome,” said Benson. 

“I didn’t say thank you!” 

“Eh, you were thinking it.”

* * *

They got back to camp as the sun was setting. The night that spread out across the sky was cloudless, with a beautiful array of stars laid out over the landscape. Wolf stayed up late that night, and was uncharacteristically curious, grilling Kipo about the constellations-- _ Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Hydra _ . She took the first watch, and let the others sleep through the second, testing out words and sounds on her tongue. 

_ Hope. _

_ Jo, Joan, Josephine.  _

_ Olivia.  _

_ Andromeda. _

She fell asleep still mouthing different sounds, and when the sun rose again, the little girl with the wolfskin cloak gathered her friends to tell them her name. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to rainbowtubastudios (on Tumblr) for beta-ing!!


End file.
